Trivia: Jim Nabors, he of the vacuous expression and the dumbstruck expletives "Gawwwleee" and "Shazzayam," graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree in business administration. Nabors' first TV job was as an apprentice film cutter; shortly afterward, he launched a fitfully successful career as a cabaret singer. In 1963, he was hired to play the one-shot role of gas station attendant Gomer Pyle on the top-rated The Andy Griffith Show. Essentially a build-up to a punchline (Griffith explained to a nonplused stranger that the goofy Gomer planned to become a brain surgeon), Nabor's hayseed character proved so popular that he became a regular on the series. In 1964, with Griffith's manager Richard O. Linke calling the shots, Nabors was spun off into his own weekly sitcom, Gomer Pyle USMC, which ran for five successful seasons. Televiewers got their first inkling that there was more to Nabors than Gomer when, on a 1964 Danny Kaye Show, he revealed his rich, well-modulated baritone singing voice. He went on to record 16 popular record albums, utilizing his high-pitched Gomer voice in only one of them (1965's Shazzam). Nabors' larynx was further deployed on his TV variety series The Jim Nabors Show (1969-72), on the 1967 opening episode (and every subsequent season opener) of The Carol Burnett Show, and in countless personal appearances all over the world. Additionally, Nabors starred in such 1970s Saturday morning kiddie efforts as Krofft Supershow, The Lost Saucer and Buford and the Galloping Ghost (voice only). He played his first serious role as a vengeful hillbilly on a 1973 episode of TVs The Rookies, and essayed comic supporting parts in such good-ole-boy films as Cannonball Run (1978) and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), both starring his close friend Burt Reynolds. Because Nabors never married, he found himself the target of numerous ugly and unfounded rumors concerning his private life. When he became deathly ill in the mid-1980s, there were those who jumped to the conclusion that Nabors had contacted AIDS. In fact, he had fallen victim to a particularly vicious form of hepatitis, picked up (according to Nabors) when he cut himself while shaving in India. Nabors recovered from his ailment after a highly publicized liver transplant saved his life.

Trivia: Tommy Noonan was still in his teens when he and his half-brother, John Ireland, made their stage debuts with a New York-based experimental theater. Noonan then returned to his home state of Delaware to launch his own repertory company. After serving in the Navy during WWII, Noonan made his Broadway bow, then was brought to Hollywood with an RKO contract. When his brother, John, married actress Joanne Dru, Noonan befriended Joanne's brother, Peter Marshall. Taking into consideration the success of Martin and Lewis, Noonan and Marshall formed their own comedy team. It was a strictly informal professional association, with the teammates spending as much time apart as together. During one of the team's "down" periods, Noonan established himself as a supporting actor in films; he played Marilyn Monroe's boyfriend in Gentleman Prefer Blondes (1953), Judy Garland's platonic musician friend in A Star Is Born (1954), and the officious floorwalker in Bundle of Joy, the 1956 musical remake Bachelor Mother (1939). In 1959, Noonan reteamed with Marshall for a feature film, The Rookie, which Noonan also wrote and produced. The picture was a disaster, as was its 1961 followup, Swingin' Along. The team broke up for keeps at this point; Peter Marshall went on to become a popular TV game show host, while Noonan gained prominence as the producer/star/"auteur" of two softcore nudie films, Jayne Mansfield's Promises Promises (1963) and Mamie Van Doren's Three Nuts in Search of a Bolt (1964). His last effort as a producer was 1967's Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers, which was also the screen swan song of the estimable Sonny Tufts. Five days short of his 47th birthday, Tommy Noonan died of a brain tumor.

Trivia: New York City-native Frances Bavier had planned to be a teacher, but her actress friend Kay Johnson convinced her to try her luck in the theatre. Almost immediately upon graduation from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1925, Bavier found herself with a one-line comedy bit especially written for her in the stage farce The Poor Nut. Her biggest break was the original Broadway production of On Borrowed Time, in which the thirtyish Frances portrayed the juvenile lead's grey-haired grandmother. She headed for Hollywood in 1950, appearing in such films as The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and The Stooge (1952). Bavier also kept busy on TV, showing up on a weekly basis in two sitcoms, It's a Great Life (1956) and The Eve Arden Show (1957). Cast as a whining widow lady in the 1960 pilot for The Andy Griffith Show, Bavier made so indelible an impression that the part of Aunt Bee was created for her virtually on the spot. She remained with The Andy Griffith Show even after Griffith left the series in 1968 and the program's title was changed to Mayberry RFD. Upon her retirement in 1970, Bavier dropped totally out of sight, and it was assumed by her friends and fans that she had passed away. When it was ascertained that Bavier was indeed alive, Andy Griffith tried to entreat her to appear in a 1986 Griffith Show reunion. Frances Bavier flatly refused, making it clear that she wanted no further contact with her former TV costars; she was alone and completely cut off from show business -- and liked it that way.